Graft-busting tools to arm national supervisory commission

A national supervisory commission is expected to be established at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress in March, increasing the powers of graft-busters to go after corruption.

Three pilots for supervisory commissions that have been running in Beijing as well as Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces have been granted new tools normally reserved for police or courts.

"Now we can resort directly to some of the measures," said Rui Chenwen, an official at Shanxi's supervisory commission, hailing the efficiency of the approaches. "In the past, those measures would require the assistance of judicial organs like police departments and procuratorates."

The new tools for supervisory commissions include seizing or freezing assets, interrogations, inspections and detentions.

In a recent case in Shanxi, an official had his wife transfer his illicit assets in an attempt to conceal bribery, but the provincial commission was able to immediately seize the assets.

"Someone was trying to make further transfers when we got to where the assets were, which could have caused big trouble for our investigation," a graft-buster in Shanxi said.

Submitted to the bimonthly legislative session of the Standing Committee of the NPC for a second reading in December, the draft national supervision law laid out regulations on forming supervisory organs, and their responsibilities and powers, to ensure they act in accordance with the law.

Zhuang Deshui, a senior researcher at Peking University, said the effectiveness of the new powers will be ensured by the draft law.

"By making clear the responsibilities and investigation methods, the supervisory power of the country has been legalized, regulated and institutionalized," he said.

In order for the public to better understand the new powers, the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has been releasing information about them on its website ahead of the upcoming NPC annual session.

Legal experts expect strict control and management of the measures to prevent abuse of power. They also ask for further regulations on detention, which they believe have the biggest influence on the basic rights of suspects.

China has been adding clarity to detention practices, with terms in the draft supervision law saying detention should end as soon as such measures become "inappropriate".

According to a decision made during the 19th National Congress of the CPC in October, as part of reforms to the national supervisory system, detention will replace the practice of shuanggui, an intraparty disciplinary practice exercised by Party disciplinary officials.